Ever See a GE Rechargeable Mono?

[MasterBlaster84]

Picked this up at Goodwill last week, never seen this model before. Seems to have a built in Ni-Cd (I assume) battery charger plus it has Bass and Treble controls and true 2 way speakers, it sounds pretty good. Wish I had the manual for this one, would be nice to have some information about the built in charger.

 

[Fatdog]

Huh? Built-in rechargeable battery? That interesting.

Can it be removed at all?

 

[MasterBlaster84]

Yeah that's what I thought first too but it just takes 4C cells so it would have to be 4C cell Ni-CD batteries.
It will run on regular batteries but I don't know about the recharging circuit, I'd hate to ruin something if the charging circuit is always on.

 

[ViennaSound]

Yeah that's what I thought first too but it just takes 4C cells so it would have to be 4C cell Ni-CD batteries.

But some boxes have charging function.
The biggest one is the ELTA masterblaster, also for example my little HANTOR owns it.
But never seen on a mono before.

The problem is, i think it will only work with NiCd batteries.
No Lithium and other modern ones.
Also take care "charging" is not on, when normal batteries inside!

But anyway, very nice find!

 

[Strānj-Bōōmbŏks]

That's pretty there MasterBlaster!!!

My Riviera PST-1010...

Has a "Batt Charging" on-off switch inside de battery compartment...

Check it out

It takes 8 D's... haven't tried it out yet though, I'll look into buying some rechargeable D's... you say it wouldn't work with Lithium D's?

 

[ViennaSound]

great, stranj
Same is on the "Master".

I´m afraid it will not work with other as Ni Cd.
But never did a try.
Was afraid to damage anything...

 

[MasterBlaster84]

The only power related switch is on the front and the options are Recharge or Backup. I would assume that Backup turns the charging off but that's not clear based on the wording, would be nice if it just said Charging On or Off.
The Recharging LED in the upper left is on with all settings when plugged in to AC.

 

[analogboi]

Hey! I have that radio!!

The internal NiCd pack is just below the tape drive. It is four Sub-C size of 1.3Ah capacity. I used 1.5Ah Panasonics to fix mine. The original 1984 NiCds worked--barely--the radio played for five minutes! Gotta luv NiCds, they last forever...

The charge rate is about 60mA, so the radio uses a very slow trickle charge. You don't have to worry about overcharging.

The radio draws about 150mA (RMS) turned up, so my new NiCds last about 10 hours of play. (I figure about eight so I don't deep discharge them).

It's a fun radio. The internal amp is pretty weak. I think about 0.7watts RMS. But, it sounds good and plays forever on a charge.

BTW, the tweeter is real, not a piezo, and that "woofer" has decent magnet on it.

Anything else you need on this radio, just holla!

 

[analogboi]

I just realized I wasn't 100% clear.

This radio has a built-in battery pack separate from the four C-size. If you load it with four alkalines, you have TWO portable power sources. The internal charger only works with the built-in pack, not the user replaceable batteries.

I think that was clearer...I hope...

I'm having an "Ira day..."

 

[MasterBlaster84]

Thanks for the info, I missed the internal battery pack so I'll have to go back and look. It's does make sense now because it made reference to 3 power sources.

 

[ViennaSound]

Wow, then it´s really an interesting box.
Usual the batteries in the compartment gets charged...

 

[MasterBlaster84]

Thanks to analogboi I ran a test on the box and learned how it works.
I plugged it in to AC, set the switch to Recharge and left it for hours. After about 5 hours I unplugged it and turned it on and to my surprise it worked, not very well since the rechargeables are shot but it did work. That means there is definitely a rechargable battery pack in it that I'll need to replace if I want to restore functionality. The switch on the front for Recharge or Backup selects either the internal battery or the normal C cell batteries in under the battery cover.

 

[Strānj-Bōōmbŏks]

WoW that is awesome!!! After all those years they still work??? Definitely they don't make things like they use to...
Congrats on the test run!!!! Now, how do you know what to put in there to replace it?

 

[MasterBlaster84]

Congrats on the test run!!!! Now, how do you know what to put in there to replace it?

Thanks, it was shocking to get any juice out of batteries over 25 years old. According to analogboi there are C Cells inside the box, probably 4 so I just have to get 4 C Cell Ni-CD's and rebuild the battery pack.

 

[Strānj-Bōōmbŏks]

I actually think he said "It is four Sub-C size of 1.3Ah capacity." So look into it before buying the C size, maybe they're smaller!

 

[MasterBlaster84]

I actually think he said "It is four Sub-C size of 1.3Ah capacity." So look into it before buying the C size, maybe they're smaller!

Oh yeah believe me I'll pull the old batteries before buying any replacements.

 

[analogboi]

These are Sub-C size NiCd:

http://www.all-battery.com/nicdsubc2200mahrechargeablebatteryflattop.aspx

You'll need four for the GE. Get the "tabs option" for solderable tabs.

I've used Tenergy batteries for a number of things (in fact, Tenergy "D" size power my M70).

Great batteries for very little dough. I use the Paypal option to check out. If your order is over $25, type "tenergydeals" into the coupon code to get free shipping (a trick learned several orders ago)

The 2.2Ah Tenergies are quite a bit higher capacity than the original batteries. The radio might play continuously for days.

The down side is they take longer to charge... :annoyed:

You could also use 4/5 Sub-C size and that would give you more room in the internal plastic battery box for wire routing and such (full-size Sub-Cs just fit as you will find out).

Also, as you noted this radio considers the alkaline batteries behind the battery door the "backup" power source.

 

[analogboi]

I should also mention that when you decide to tackle replacing the internal battery pack--set aside a time when you won't be disturbed and/or have a digicam handy...

Almost every screw you take out of the GE will be a different size (usually length). The potential for stripping out or cracking screw bosses when re-assembling is high with this radio. :grim: :annoyed:

 

[MasterBlaster84]

I should also mention that when you decide to tackle replacing the internal battery pack--set aside a time when you won't be disturbed and/or have a digicam handy...

Almost every screw you take out of the GE will be a different size (usually length). The potential for stripping out or cracking screw bosses when re-assembling is high with this radio. :grim: :annoyed:

This is a small mono box it should be simple, so the engineers were either drunk or just wanted to F with people?

 

[Strānj-Bōōmbŏks]

Maybe they were both drunk AND wanted to F with people!!!